Peaks from our presentation

Here are a few pictures from the final presentation. Thanks again for keeping tabs on our project!

Final reflection

Well, the project is finished. Our presentation on Monday was energetic and clearly a group effort, just like our activities during the project. I was very pleased on how the team performed.

I felt like the lectures during the course really prepared us for producing and presenting our work. Frankly I could not have been as effective in the work before this course without the lectures.

I would like to thank our team, Tizazu, Manyazewal and Pasi for a great job! We had our disagreements, hardships and miscommunications, but we managed to work through all that and create a great project. I know I have learnt alot, thanks to you guys!

Also thank you to Pamela and all the other people who made this course possible. Even though the course had a heavy workload, most of it felt fun and interesting!

My Final Reflection

When the course started I felt that our whole team was extremely excited from the project and the task ahead.

Now at the end of the project I honestly feel that that excitement and motivation for the course lasted till the end, and allowed us to be successful with our project.

In the early beginning we didn’t have that clear picture what we were expected to come up with, but with questioning, finding information and working hard we found what our task is.

Especially in the beginning I personally felt that I was very keen to get to the results, or to be more specific, wanted to find out what our product should be.

But now after the spring, I feel that besides that we were able to come up with some unique and marvellous product, from personal level the main lesson was how to work as a team, together with people with different study backgrounds and from different cultures.
By having been working in multicultural groups previously, I knew that every group is unique, as every person.

End of the day it may seem like that the main issue with this kind of a project is how we get to the results, and what kind of results. But at the same time project work and its succeeding is totally dependent on how well the team is working together. Like it has been said, “the chain is as strong as its weakest link”. So in order to get the team working, the group dynamics have to work and every person of the group have to give everything for the group.

The most positive thing of this course that I got was to be creating something new while at the same broadening my perspective, particularly what there is and could be done in order to improve the quality if life in developing countries.

And the other most important positive thing was the ability to learn more about team working, almost as if in real business case.

This course gave me more inspiration how to see technology as a helping tool, when solving the problems that billions of people are facing daily. So I applied and was allowed to attend to this new Aalto multidisciplinary project, where our group of four people should find solution to demanding water issue in Burkina Faso…

So in a way, my learning from this course's perspective will continue immediately after Solar Sail project, and I hope that same will happen to all the others.
THANK YOU, my fellow students and the course personel, from interesting & inspiring course!

SGT final presentations

The last course in the SGT module was concluded today with the project work presentations.
The fact that the topics covered were diverse in their nature made it an eventful & interesting day.
All groups presented their products and/or feasibility studies in attractive and unique manner.

It was also a good opportunity to learn from the different experts how to follow up and comment on others' work when assigned as a critic.
Hopefully there will be further life for these class-room projects in the near future and almost all of them seem to be promising in that regard.

The real world situation will be markedly different with more challenges but the lessons learned from the various lectures, group researches and workshops during the course lifetime should enable the respective groups with the required knowledge to pursue further if they wish to do so.

I believe NSN will go ahead and implement the prototype we developed (after making the necessary adjustments). The project was a good chance to share experience (as we come from different backgrounds) & it was also fun along the way.

Big thanks to our partner NSN, our mentors Lionel & Mika, the course staff, fellow students & also group colleagues!

Final Critique Session

Our last day of the course was inspiring and worthy of memories. I would like to thank all the course personnel(Professor Olli Varis, Pamela, Marko and Ulla), my fellow group members, our mentor Lionel and Mika, for their contribution to its success.
We have learned to be questioned for our output, that we did for months, to explain everything that seems failure. In fact, we did it very well.
From other group's presentation, the different settings - some of them even don't have slides and others use a mix of slides, posters or 3D pictures, an indicative for making a good presentation out of the usual style.
The comments by Dr. Paula were worth attending. I was personally giving much attention to her insights that even a silly mistake can divert audience attention, and could distract the spirit of the whole presentation. Specially, when it comes to group presentation, its vulnerability increases, one member may make mistakes, and make things out of order if the others fail to balance it.
When it comes to the course objectives, I think, we did it perfectly. Our group has developed a spirit of bringing different ideas to a single point decision. Also, we were knowing one another's personal interests, beyond academic veil, that helped us go smoothly till the end. Starting from idea generation and project plan to the first workshop and then the Final Report and critique session, we had good time commenting each other. We used GoogleDocs as a common workspace and comment one another's contribution.

Lets not count our chickens until they're hatched

Hey guys,
We are left with the big Monday. Promoting and, as pasi said, ''selling'' our product to customers [attendees].
We will have a good opportunity to unveil the long awaited Solar Generator that could address the problems of remote communities.
Hope we will make it so special that we may run out of ''Order Forms''...huh.
Lets make the presentation slides, and comment each other in GoogleDocs.
We havent yet crossed the finishing line - lets not count our chickens until they are hatched.

Last run before the finish line...

So it seems like that soon this long project comes to an end.
But at the same time I feel that due to the fact that the project has been very inspiring, I would gladly like take our concept further and develope the "phase2"...

It is going to be very interesting to hear that what is the feedback from our project going to be; will people understand it, are they gonna like it or are they going to think it is not feasible?

So we have to put some effort on those presentation slides and really "sell" OUR product!

Comments on Report

We have left about a week for the Final Critique session, and two days for Report submission.
What feelings did we get from the feedbacks/comments?
Have we got the necessary skills/Have we met our expectations at the beginning of the semester? I feel that I got something suitable to work in a group, which demands a continous attention until its end.
I was thinking about an internal comment session, preferably before Monday.
That may help for our personal developement.
By doing so, we can also train ourselves for the final presentation.
Share your idea...

Participatory methods in practice

The work being done by Suomen Latu in Nepal, as presented in the last lecture, is a good example that shows the benefits of participatory methods.

As it was often highlighted throughout the various lectures in the SGT courses, involving the native people in the planning & implementation processes plays a vital role in the successful execution of any development project.

Obviously, most development projects (during their inception phase) are planned to take into account the local people but a significant number of them somehow fail to put into practice this crucial part during the actual work on the ground.

In the case of our project, if NSN decides to deploy solar-driven Village Connection solution in the near future, it’s highly important to gather as much information as possible from the villagers living in different parts of the world (wherever NSN offers its system) about their requirements.

Each community will have its priority needs. So, developing a host of additional solutions based on experiences and allowing the villagers to choose the service that most fulfills their urgent need may be one approach to make sure that the service provided is of practical benefit to the community.

Lectures 19.4. & 12.4

The lecture on Monday 19.4 was very interesting concerning about our project due to couple of reasons;
- how will local community be taken into consideration / participate already in the planning phase of the project
- how will the project will influence on the local people, entrepreneurs
- what will happen when the project ends? Will the project still continue after the project personel leave?
My personal critique about the Nepal project is still that use of frase "eco-tourism" is used particulary for the marketing purposed. When project will focus on raising the areas tourism capasity, the focus should be on that how the groth of tourism is done sustainable manners...

Lecture 12.4
I really hope that all of the group members have time to go thru the lecture slides before our presentation. We must focus in our presentation what is our target group, what it is we trying to sell for the audience, what is the outlook of presentation etc.

Prototype building

Here are a few pictures from the lab building where we have been testing the prototype.

Kathmandu Valley Cultural Trail, A good model for EcoNet

A typical project mobilizing the local people, Kathmandu Valley Cultural Trail, can be seen as a good model. The involvement of the local people in any project raises awareness, and makes the project more sustainable. Specially if a project creates economical links/ties to local enterpreuners. The value of a project for a society is measured by the way it hits its target within a specific time. Any implemented project may have, an astonishing result, in the long term, but for remote communities what matters is its short term impacts, at least to some members of them.
Innovative Solar Power for Remote Communities project could be made more sustainable by creating that Economic link, what we were refering as Secondary Services. The link could be created by the interests of local Telecom operators to create awareness about their network and , but NSN has a good position to suggest it for them.
If the its possible to integrate the Secondary services into a solar powered Telecom System, then we can say it EcoNet system (a telecom network involving/advantaging local people).

NGOs, donors & the community

A project carried out by SolarAid in a Ugandan remote town (Katine) is now providing power supply to the town's health-care centre.
The solar panels power up the health centre's lighting system and also its vaccine fridge ensuring the proper storage of vaccines.
Moreover, community members can also charge their mobile phones at the health centre. The residents pay a fee for the service they receive that is used for maintaining the operation of the solar panels.
The NGO (SolarAid) and the Katine community were actively involved in the implementation. The donation to realize the project came from the Guardian newspaper & a US rock band.
I think this project is a good example that shows the successful partnership between NGO, Donors & the Community.
(Full story at http://www.guardian.co.uk/katine/2010/feb/04/solar-panels-ojom-health-centre)

The secondary services

I thought all us are satisfied with what we did today. I hope we will try our Solar Generator to power up Pentti's Laptop on Sunday.

What are we going to do for the secondary services?

I was thinking of some appliance which needs only small DC power, anything you have that can create business opportunity for local enterprueners in the target communities.

If you can, think of the following : Hair trimmer, shaver, a chargeable lamp, chargeable radio/TV, ...

If you have, bring one and lets make it part of the video.

A day at the water lab

Today we had a good start with setting up the solar sail at the water lab.

It wasn't straightforward as initially thought, which meant some adjustments were needed to get the right amount of tension from all corners.

The sail is very light and also its fabric is strong.

It looks capable of properly supporting the weight of the solar panel (fabric).

It was great to have some practical work to do as part of the course tasks. It allows one to be creative and it further strengthens the spirit of team work.

Next we'll focus on fixing the two components (sail & solar fabric) together.

As discussed this morning, for the present need, it may be sufficient to fix only the solar fabric at the center of the sail and to show how the actual installation will look like on the design being prepared by Pentti (i.e., the three fabrics to get the whole 150W).

If this design is done according to scale, it'll also help to estimate the required sail size & thus can be recommended to NSN.

Secondary Services

This is a small refrigetor for medicine that is portable, most efficient and uses less energy.

Sundanzer runs on small 75 W module in most climates.
Refrigerator Temp range -1 degree Centigrade to 9 degree Cent. Its freezer Temp from -18 to -5 degree C.


Our system can also be used for barbers to charge their machines(hair clippers,
trimmers,....). Its a good idea for business if its possible to find a dc powered hair clippered machine.

Solar-based solution from Ericsson & Telecom Italia

** Similar project under trial in Italy **

Ericsson & Telecom Italia recently unveiled Eco-Smart Solution, a solar generator using flexible solar panels for radio base station.

The Eco-Smart solution features an elliptical support structure coated with flexible solar panels wrapping up the antenna as shown in the photo.

In the case of NSN, the antenna size is considerably smaller as it serves only a village community and hence the solar panel structure will be markedly different. However, the fact that major technology vendors are shifting towards sustainable power supply sources such as flexible solar generators is striking.

Read more at -

http://www.ericsson.com/thecompany/press/releases/2009/07/1327971

Reducing energy costs

Another interesting story from Uganda.

Telecom service provider Celtel teamed up with Ericsson to reduce energy costs in its Ugandan telecom market by opting for a hybrid energy solution that comprises diesel power and battery.

Prior to this, the required power to operate every remote mobile base station was supplied from two diesel generators that work alternatively.

The driving force behind this move is the running cost of diesel and other costs related to site visits for re-fuelling and maintenance. The solution offered by Ericsson involves replacing one of the generators with a special battery bank. This results in as much as 50% savings for the telecom operator and also a positive environmental impact.

This is a quite encouraging experience. In the case of NSN, if they can successfully deploy a fully solar-powered solution, then the savings thus achieved will be even more.

* On a side note, I just finished working on the 'green energy' part of the final report. Thoughts/comments at Google Docs. What about the other topics already split in the first round of tasks?

Efficient telecom solutions for emerging markets

An interesting trend is developing among telecom solution providers - i.e., the competition for a share of the lucrative market in emerging economies.

Altobridge Limited is one of the new players in this sector following its recent acquisition of BTS hardware manufacturer ADC Mobile Network Solutions. Read more at:

http://www.developingtelecoms.com/bringing-mobile-connectivity-to-small-remote-communities.html

The company claims that its solution has one of the lowest power consumption figures on the market.

It goes on to say " ... For solar installations, the solution has an intelligent ‘Night Mode’ reducing power use at night during low traffic periods. The intelligent control of the BTS can be used to vary services and coverage at night or during periods of low power availability, with further power savings achieved through intelligent management of the power amplifier ... "

Is it the case with NSN?

It will be interesting to know if they have a similar mechanism to minimize power consumption, which allows additional services to be provided in a more reliable manner.

3D modeling

I did some preliminary work on the CAD software (3DS MAX) and this is what I got after 3 hours of getting reacquainted with it.



Now to get some sleep before driving for 5 hours in the morning. Happy Easter!

Nuclear energy

Is nuclear a green energy source?

It's quite interesting to observe that a lot of debate is going on out there whether nuclear can be considered as a clean (hence green) technology or not.

It's known that nuclear power does not produce green house gases as a direct consequence of power production, which means it can possibly provide a good alternative to conventional energy sources like fossil fuels.

However, dealing with used nuclear fuel remains a major concern. So how green is nuclear technology?

Food for thought.

Vaccine fridge & rechargeable lamp

I was having a look at some of the services that can be attached to the NSN system.

The power requirement of the vaccine refrigerators I found are on the higher side of the max power available from the solar generator.

The rating of one of the small-size portable fridges is 12/24V DC - 3.1A 110V AC. Here is the link:

http://www.gemrefrigeratorcompany.com/vaccine_port_mt27.php?f=vaccine

We were thinking of rechargeable lamps also. Such appliances consume very little power and seem to be well-suited for our system. A typical rechargeable lantern with U-tube lamp that operates with just 7W is shown below -

Meeting on 22 March

I organize the main points raised in our meeting today.

• Asking our mentor Lionel about the following issues -

- How we can access the Design Factory facility

- what are the intended users of our manual

• About having a clear idea of our next move, each of the group members can address any idea disparities before we go on.
• Adding an illustrative poster or 3D design about secondary services(like water purification) supported by our system
• About creating a poster with 'real feel', more illustrative of the practical installation
• Mannual - Adding more technical detail explanation for users in need of further study about our system

-

• on contacting TAIK students for a more professional poster and video clip designs that will be used in NSN SEC...
• Pentti already took poster design using 3DMax
• After a response from our mentor Lionel, the tools in a ''a technicians' toolbox'' are enough from Design Factory.
• Testing our manual if its easy to understand for the intended users.
• on using bolt with wing nut and washer for attaching the solar panel with the sail....suggestion.

Sustainable Buildings in Finland - Eco Viiki Case

Today's, Sustainable Buildings in Finland, Eco Viiki case, showed me how sustainability projects can account for the factors related to it, directly or indirectly. He included how Motiva is working with

• individuals (in changing energy habits),
• companies,
• constructors,
• governmental ministries (though motiva is also gov't owned)
• new related technologies
• other similar instituitions

The two main points raised were of course finally explained by Marko, Time and Change. Its is not unexpected through time, pretty new technologies, cheap and more easy will come to serve in place of projects like Sustainable Building, and infact our project - Innovative Solar Power for Remote Communities. But starting with an inclusive and best design will not end up too costy for change as well.

Although most of Motiva's projects may not be achieved in short term, they have set some standards, as a success criteria - the concept of certificates, that is another good point for those working in project implementation.

Manual

Hi guys,
I found the following manual precise and informative, please take a look
http://www.omega.com/manuals/manualpdf/M4384.pdf

On user manual and Report

In addition to what Manyazewal has posted, we can add the following points

1. General Information about the product
2. Allowed(authorized applications)
3. Specifications
4. Usage instruction
5. Installation Instruction (can include illustrative figures)
6. Disclaimer
7. Reference Materials (for technical personel who want to know more about the product)

In our report we can include what issues we considered in writing our user manual, like

• for what type of users
• major tasks in installation
• the method of writing we used (for instance,IF THEN, for troubleshooting during malfunctioning)
• the number of steps
• the total estimated time
• etc

Mid-term results & user-manual tips

I just checked our midterm report card.The results we got for our project plan and the workshop are quite encouraging!

There is a note on group work which says "it's good to check that each team member has equal role, influence and workload in the group". I guess the workloads are evenly distributed among the team members and the fact that we are reviewing individual tasks every week will ensure that it will be the case till the end of the project.

On another topic, I was looking for tips on how to prepare the user manual. Here are some general guidelines -

• Make sure the instructions actually map on to the product in all respects.
• Include a one-page quick start guide.
• Present instructions as step-by-step procedures.
• Tell the user what functions there are and what they are for.
• Write the user manual in synch with the product's development timeline — not under pressure of shipping deadlines (this is an interesting point!).
• User-test the product and the user manual with real users (including disabled users) (perhaps not applicable at the moment).

We can use these tips as guidelines for shaping our user manual.

March 17th Internal meeting

Hello colleagues,

I have summarized the points we wanted to focus on (in the next few weeks) -

• monitor closely the progress of our report (pre-submission April 22nd)
• Building the prototype - contact Design Factory (Pasi will look for the options)
• Internal deadline for getting a decision on using the proposed solar sail - Next Monday
• Auto-CAD drawings - to produce the instructions for the assembly of the solar sail & fabric
• Possible types of malfunctioning & required troubleshooting? - brainstorming needed
• Posters preparation for final presentation. What about SEC? May be leaflets will be better?
• Ask Pamela to facilitate contact with TaiK for producing professional-looking posters & video-clips
• Anymore inputs for the possible types of additional services? What about the small fee to be paid by the villagers for the services they receive (like mobile phone and lamp charging)?

By the way the last point works quite well in my country. In some locations there are small kiosks offering mobile phone charging for a small fee for people on the go.

See you next Monday at our internal meeting -12:15.

VERY interesting video! and link to our "rival's" webpage!

Hi all. Just browsing web after reading some chapters from the book "Sustainability challenges and solutions at the BOP".

FIRST, here is quite interesting video about Suntrica's products and India's VNL.
http://www.telesemana.com/tv/detalle.php?id=205

THEN here are the homepages of India's VNL, PLEASE check it out - SIMILAR to our project, except the fact that they are using traditional panels!?
("Low-power — at less than 100W per Base Station, the entire system can be run on solar power. No power grid or generator necessary.")
http://www.vnl.in/ ->solutions->rural

Workshop reflections

So, the much anticipated WORKSHOPS have come & gone! Very much to everyone's relief I must say (specially the few hours just before our workshop felt like eternity:)).

The lessons learnt from our workshop will be kept in mind and they will definitely have a positive impact on our final output. I think all the teams did well in their workshops.

The two things all teams had in common were applying the practice of participatory methods and good time management.

The feedbacks we got from the audience were quite encouraging & in my view our workshop went smoothly according to plan. Well, there were a few things that could have been done like engaging the senior guests in the discussions, which could have allowed us to gather more expert views.

Overall it was a rewarding experience and hats off to all parties who contributed to the success of both workshop days!

How to fix the solar fabric to the solar sail?

I was looking for simple ways of connecting our solar fabric to the proposed solar sail.

Here is one idea to start with -

The holes will be prepared on the edges of the solar fabric at equal distances (we will need a tool for piercing both fabrics properly!).

Afterwards, the fixing can be done with a CABLE TIE which needs to be heavy-duty type and UV-stabilized like the samples shown below -

Advantages of using the cable-tie:

• quick & simple installation
• easy to dismantle & change either the solar fabric or the solar sail (when the need arises)
• less weight as compared to other fixing techniques such as metallic fasteners
• spares can be easily accessed from any market

What do you think about its durability? Can we find other better techniques?

Solar Sail by Ikea

By searching I finally found the Ikeas model (what I ment originally):

Link to the webpage: http://www.ikea.com/us/en/catalog/products/40125786
(not the best pics there though & price in Finland 29,95 €)

Panel design ideas

Ideas for the panel design. These pictures can be found by doing a google image search on "Solar Sail".

Workshop Feedbacks

We have got the following feedback from workshop participants. Take a look at them, you can use them as a start up to bring ideas in our Wednesday's meeting.

1. Regarding the Project plan.

• Clearly explained
• Not much detail on the plan - [I think this is regarding to the way we present our Plan in the workshop]
• A timeline /workplan/ achievements
• A bit expensive
• Interesting plan
• The presentation was clear and sensible
• Remember on your own project and not the final outcome and implementation phase
• Well presented and good slides

2. Actual Workshop

• Easy not too much details, possible very usefull for your work
• Good method and organization
• Members were aware of what they needed from us
• very good
• It was nice to use the methods used in class (participatory) + a feel of the panel
• Great facilitation, you gave the instructions and I think we got a good idea of the project in general
• They kept it simple - which is great. Great facilitator - very receptive *Think group dynamism
• Hopefully it was useful for you, quite hard questions
• The tasks were quite general

Expectations from Workshop...

First of all, I am happy to notice that we are finally consentrating on the actual outcome of our project, to "phase I".

So after our tutorial meeting and visit in NSN's SEC, it's now even more sure that the DESIGN is the key issue; how innovative is our end product and what can be gained by it. On the other hand, we must remember that our "customer" is NSN, not an NGO... So our project differs somewhat from those by Winrock etc.
I hope we are able to present the uniques of our project also in tomorrows workshop. Because in order to achieve all those goals defined in previous writing, we really have to be able to present our project right and ask right questions from our audience...

What is your expectation from Workshop?

From the workshop we should focus on getting important suggestions, preferably a Design which is easy, flexible and feasible. I underline, the idea that there may be architects, artists or those interested in design from the workshop participants. After the workshop, I hope, we can get the following.
1. A flexible design suggestion, which is easy to install and also modular(scalable) for usage.
2. Or design considerations in remote communities,like the available materials, cultures, lifestyles... etc, in case we forget to address.
3. The contribution of stakeholders to our project.
4. The possible interests of other aid organization towards our product, and how we make our product suitable for their interests.
5. Alternative solutions for secondary services, in case we havent yet considered them. For instance, if the secondary services, like water purification, ..., can be solved easily and with less cost, we can manage filtering them out.
6. How we can prepare our manual suitable for end users with no technical background about our product. We may get some standard guideline to prepare such manuals, or companies with similar product.
-------------->

Similar Project

'Sustainable Rural Development through Solar Power and Telecommunications'

I came across this report about a similar project in Guatemala, which is led by WINROCK & USAID. Although they are using the classic solar panels, most of the ideas behind the project are pretty much similar to our case.

The solution they opted for -

"Collaboration with local NGO to bring energy services to community, based on community’s identified prioritized demand and available resources."

The results achieved -

• Lighting for home, school and clinic applications, allowing for higher education through distance learning and refrigeration of vaccines;
• community training and education;
• acquisition of a solar-powered cell phone for income generation;
• women incorporated into the Local Improvement Committee.

A number of parallels can be drawn from this project & hopefully it will strengthen our conviction regarding the feasibility of our project.

http://www.winrock.org/clean_energy/files/Sustainable_Rural_Development_through_.pdf

SEC visit

Our group had the privilege to visit the Nokia Siemens Networks Solution experience Center in Leppävaara. As a part of our project we are going to design and build a prototype. The prototype will become a part of the SEC exhibit. It was enlightening to see the exhibit space. We now have a better understanding of what our prototype should be like.
Our groups workshop is coming up next monday. It will be interesting to hear what the other students think about the challenges we are going to present to them.

Revised plan & workshop

Hi everyone!

I guess we all got good inputs from yesterday's meeting with Ulla. The thing is, what we are meant to do during the lifetime of the project is getting even clearer & hopefully we have well grasped by now the central idea.

Among the comments given by her, the most important one was the need to segregate our short-term and long-term objectives. Accordingly, our revised version is expected to come out with a clear distinction between these different phases.

The other main points discussed were also quite useful, such as the contents of the final report and the different sources that can provide us with valuable inputs during our work (like Peter from Shalin).

The previous version of the project plan is now on Google Docs. Let's update our respective parts in accordance with the comments and get it ready for submission. Meanwhile, let's also build on what we started to discuss yesterday about the practical matters of the prototype and perhaps brainstorm each other on Monday (that is if time allows, since our priority for the day is preparation for the workshop!).


See you on Monday and enjoy the weekend!

Services and investment

My fellow bloggers on this blog have found interesting technical solutions for solar power. They each have their place in the solar panel markets and rural service industry. What I have been trying to figure out is the investment systems that could be incorporated into rural communities in order to facilitate the system investments.

So far I have identified two possibilities. First there are a plethora of Aid organizations in developed countries. These organizations could be persuaded into investing in the rural communities if they receive clear documentation of need, usefulness and sustainability. The challenge is to identify the Aid organizations and set them up with suitable rural communities in order to facilitate the project. The facilitation work itself is also laborious.

Second there exist several microloan organizations aimed at reducing poverty and improving living conditions. Working with these organizations to provide electricity for rural communities can mitigate problems for telecom companies looking to invest in rural community GSM access points.

Innovative Solar energy roof from US

"When one thinks of solar panels, we imagine huge, black panels that stick out like a sore thumb.

SRS Energy has come up with an ingenious invention to combat this issue. The Solé Power Tiles™ are dark blue, and the contours match the undulations of typical clay roof tiles. The Solé Power Tile™ brings the luxurious style and classic durability of clay roofing into the modern era of sustainable energy."

http://www.srsenergy.com

3rd Generation of Solar cells

Like I mentioned earlier, there is lots of going on with the development of solar panels. Here's one example:




In the 3rd generation of solar cells we have organic solar cells which are in a development phase. This is a technology which uses organic materials in the photoactive layer. Actually, 7 percent of the layers are construed by wet chemicals. Moreover, organic solar cells are much more powerful than contemporary silicon cells. They are more flexible, thinner, cheaper and can be produced rapidly. This makes it very suitable for pervasive use to power devices, sensors and other electrical appliances. These organic solar cells can in the near future substitute the use of cables and batteries.

(source: Science daily)

Village Solar charger by Ericsson

"The Ericsson Village Solar Charger is built on standard components and can be used for all types of mobiles. It uses a 0.7 square metre solar panel connected to a rack where eight mobiles can be charged at the same time. A 12-volt lead-acid battery makes charging possible at night. The charger is capable of recharging at least 30 mobile phone batteries a day, all year round. It can also be used for other types of load, such as powering computers, lights or TV sets, says Ericsson."

Ericsson solar charger

About Monday's lecture

The lecture(s) held on Monday were very interesting and personally I feel that it was easy to find links to our project:

1) Beyond vision
- the lecturer started by mentioning that it is easier to work in group, which I agree as long as the group shares the same vision and goals. The examples represented here were quite different although there were many common factors.
The most important was to hear how environmental aspects can be taken into account already in the planning phase by the architechs.
Also the main concern about using renewable energy was important, although as the lecturer said; local people won't necessarely care how the energy is produced and besides they may have some prejuduces against some renewable energy forms, e.g. biogas. Getting the people being involved with project will make it possible that they adopt it "as their own", which will eventually mean that the project won't die away right after the financiers/developers leave.

2) Shalin ry
- the group work given was most likely one of the challenging ones so far; 5 minutes time to find solutions how to solve the energy problems/issues of developing world! Yes, do that and get the Nobel prize...
It was nice to hear something that supperted my own vision about development projects, one can try to do everything "by the books" but the reality can be totally different. The (mean of) communication is also something that one has to give specific attention.
In here also it was mentioned that is good that end-users have some tangible to see, already in the early planning stage.

3) NSN
- naturally it was interesting to hear from the Village Connection; how it has started, what different kind of phases there has been and what kind of problems.
The part where Mika was talking about working with communities was closely related to our project, we also should solve a problem(s). Also, who is in our project the customer and customer's customer? What different needs they have and how those differ from each other?

Desing considerations 2

I feel better if I post my own thoughts about the desing here, not just commenting the previous.

1) we shouldn't "get stuck" with the technical specifications; the truth is that flexible solar panels aren't that efficient at this point as the traditional ones (solar panels).
But most likely the situation with this will change while the development of the manufacturing technology of FLEXIBLE panels proceeds.
Personally I feel that we were instructed to build a panel of 150w in order to understand the scale of this project, approximately HOW big the flexible solar panel solution should be.

2) the biggest benefits that the FLEXIBLE solar panel have, are those when thinking about the logistics and installation. ESPECIALLY the installation is our concern; how to build a solar panel solution cost-effective way, from materials found from the area so that it is easily istalled to support the villages infrastucture.

3) Yes, the secondary services/solutions are vital. As can be seen what is really going on with the actual NSN Village Phone project is that they are adding secondary mobil services/solutions that are important to the villagers.
Our services/solutions most likely should be something more concrete/tangible; meaning water purification, lighting solutions, etc...

4) as can see from the previous text by Tizuzu, there are already lot of models how to use FLEXIBLE solar panels in developed countries.
BUT, how to build a solution that is not that expensive and can be used in developing countries?

Design Considerations

The flexible solar pannel we saw last time, though I forget its name is similar to the following

Specifications:

• Operating Voltage: 12V (25 W)
• Voc: 16.5v
• Operating Current: 1500 MA
• Dimensions (Folded/Unfolded): 11 x 8.5 x .7 in / 41 x 22 in
  
• Weight: 1.7 lbs

#1.
The dimension is approximately 1.04 by 0.56 meters. If we need a 150W generator the smallest
dimension possible is 6 pieces, in 2 by 3 arrangement = 2*1.04 by 3*0.56=2.08 by 1.68
including the inter panel gap inefficiency, this will have an area of
approx. 2.10*1.70=3.57 meter sq.
#2.
If we are going to use it for secondary services, like electrifying water purifiers, we need additional panels.
Typically Water purifying systems need 15 to 45W depending on their capacity,
I have seen a sample water purifier with the following specifications
Specification
Power Consumption (Overall) (Watts)> 36/48
Type of Water Purifier >

What it means?

There are two types of water purifiers available: the storage type and the direct flow type.

How it works?

The storage type simply requires you to fill the top container of the purifier with water directly from the tap and then get water as and when required. The direct flow type does not require storing the water. One can directly open the tap and get filtered water.

Benefits

The Storage type of filter can be good for places facing water storages. The Direct Flow Type saves you the hassle of storing water.

Direct Flow
Purification Stages >

What it means?

This refers to the total number of purification stages the water goes through.

Benefits

A higher number of purification stages would ensure safe drinking water.

5
Flow Rate (Litres/Minute) >0.416
The whole spec can be found at
http://compareindia.in.com/specification/water-purifiers/hitech-ro-25-of/42991

Please visit the following solar purifier system, it gives us some technical insight.
http://www.aqua-sun-intl.com/products/PWP-C5/PWP-C5.pdf
My conclusion is that if we are going to add the socalled SECONDARY services, like charging mobile, water purifying .... though they can be used alternatively, the design of the generator should be dimensioned to consider these technical specs.

Please take a look at the following orientations and dimensions.

Local communities participation in international projects

Today's lessons gave us a practical insight upon community projects. The first presentaion gave us some considerations in implementing community projects(especialy the involvement of the local people, the challenges associated with that, and how to deal with the neutral and probable loser stakeholders).
I was interested by the project's approach to use the localy available materials as much as possible. It remind me the cobblestone road projects recently adopted in most Ethiopian towns. Apart from being easily adopted these projects help easy technology transfer. We can use this idea(of business model) in designing our solar generator.
From Peter Kuria's presentation the main point is the 'weight' given to individuals. In most 3rd world communities, its better to show them some model individuals and create a 'peer competition' than just injecting finance to community projects. Even though the financing may do some visible outputs, the continuity of the project is questioned when the finance stops. How could this individuals role be targeted? I think, we should make our solar generator design as much cheaper as affordable to individuals , at least in the long run.
Lets try to search remote communities' social and economic conditions, that will help us to hit the ideal solution for them.

Everything is alright !

Hi guys,

Everything was done alright with the project plan. Specially, what we did in commenting one anothers' contribution to Project Plan. Just after the Commenting Session, Manyazewal and I were editing the comments together. The googleDoc stuff worked well. It was easy to compile the group idea.

Now its time to think about our next move. The workshop, and ofcourse the actual project. Please keep searching ideas, and updating your views to others in the blog.

Great work on the project plan

After our group meeting on Wednesday with our Mentor Lionel I feel we have really started to move forward in our project at great speed. There is still alot of work to be done, but I have at least a clearer view on what we will be doing in the project.

Working with Google Docs seems to work well. It is giving us the flexibility of creating a project plan with quick interaction between the whole group. We should discuss in our next meeting if you all feel this way or if it is hindering your focus. It is a great tool but only if the group agrees together.

Examples of implementing Solar Panels in remote villages

Some pictures from Finnish Solar Panel manufacturers webpages, http://www.napssystems.com

Mongolia

Yemen

Mosambique

Shenge Village, China

Solutions for Extreme Affortability from Stanford etc.

Here are some links to webpages that hopefully help us / give us something to think about:
(just click to open)

http://extreme.stanford.edu/ (especially the success stories)

and some other social enterprises:

http://clickdiagnostics.com/

http://www.driptech.com/

Innovative lamps to replace kerosine lanterns:

(photos from www.Dlightdesign.com)

From NSN - feasibility of Renewable Energy

Some aspects maybe to consider when we start planning the actual prototype:

http://www.nokiasiemensnetworks.com/about-us/corporate-responsibility/environmentally-sustainable-business/products-environment/renewabl

And from these pages you'll find some pdf-brochures/white-papers (right side):

http://www.nokiasiemensnetworks.com/insight/environment/renewable-energy

http://www.nokiasiemensnetworks.com/insight/environment

LINK to the NSN Unite

Like I promised yesterday, here's the address to the NSN Unite pages. By browsing the pages you'll find some insight about what is happening in NSN - related to our project.

http://unite.nokiasiemensnetworks.com/